Category: travel

Country bike ride

I don’t really think of my mom as living in the country. But turn to the left out of my mom’s neighborhood and this is what you get – country.

A different kind of "share the road" sign

With the exception of a few short stretches, this is the kind of road I had to work with. No shoulder. And sometimes no white line on the edge. These roads have a speed limit of between 45-55 mph. I was a little concerned, but didn’t need to be. South Chesterfield County, VA drivers were very respectful of my space and didn’t crowd me or yell redneck things out the window. I even had someone stop to make sure I was okay while I was eating a snack.

Rolling hills
Horsies

Road into the park

The temperature and humidity was about perfect. I wasn’t even sweaty at the end of the ride. The hills made my knees a little cranky. Probably because I forgot about my granny gear until the last half of the ride.

Lots of animals … goats, a chicken in the woods, chicken houses (sad face), and a bunch of horses. At one point a turkey vulture flew towards me and then over my head. So huge! I was glad he was alone, though. A group of them might’ve made me wonder if they were waiting for me to become a tasty snack.

There are a few more pics here.

And here’s the route and a flyover view!

Special delivery doughnuts

Urg, so behind. Kevin was in Las Vegas a couple of weeks ago. You know what that means .. a Ronald’s Doughnuts delivery! Kevin went all professional this time and got a plastic bin just for the doughnut transport.

There are really only two doughnuts I care about: the Boston cream and apple fritter. So as soon as the box was cracked open, I reached in for one of these babies and destroyed it.

Whoops, forgot this picture. It’s the innards, the most important part!

Then we ran off to make vegan doughnut deliveries all over the place before meeting up with folks at Mi Barrio for dinner and more doughnuts. The doughnuts are awesome as an occasional thing, but I sure didn’t want a giant box of them sitting in the house. I’d feel obligated to keep shoving them in my mouth hole until they were gone.

Apple fritters are filled with apples and regret. So good going in, but such a gut bomb afterwards. Half is plenty, but you really want to eat five. This might be the lemon filled next to it. That one was really nice. Tart and not excessively sweet filling.

Wayward Vegan Cafe, Round 2

Our last meal in Seattle was a return trip to Wayward Vegan Cafe. There were too many things left behind on the menu that we hadn’t tried yet.

I got the breakfast biscuit sandwich. Who doesn’t like old school hash browns? My only complaint is that it was basically scramble on a biscuit which was kind of hard to pick up and eat. Omelet style would have been easier.

Kevin got the blintz. Some vegan blintzes in Atlanta would be awesome.

Someone got pancakes. I’m not sure who.

And we got a club sandwich to eat on the plane later. It held up pretty well. I bet it was delicious right out of the kitchen.

And that’s the end of the Seattle gorge fest. 🙁

In the Bowl Vegetarian Noodle Bistro

So there are still a few Seattle posts to go…

In the Bowl Vegetarian Noodle Bistro isn’t just vegetarian, but vegan. W00t! It’s mostly Thai with a few more generic dishes if you’re a hater.

These are the Full-filled Your Dreams fried wontons: Deep fried vegan wonton skin wrapper which are being filled with vegetarian meat paste and tofu cream cheese then served with sweet and sour sauce.

They have tons of fake meat options. I rarely get duck, so I thought I’d try it in the form of Roasted Duck Curry: A perfect matched of curry paste, soy protein roasted duck, coconut milk, cherry tomato, pineapple, bell pepper and fresh basil served with rice vermicelli noodle, white or brown rice.

This was good, but where the duck really shined was in the salad Beth ordered, the Spicy Roasted Duck Salad: Marinated roasted duck tossed with red onion, green onion and our homemade chili-lime sauce then served over sliced of green apple and garnished with crispy chow mien and cilantro. Too bad I didn’t take a picture.

 

Vegan Bahn Mi

Our last day in Seattle, I was on a mission to put some vegan bahn mi in my mouth. It worked out just right to swing by the downtown Cafe Pho and get some sammiches. They don’t have a vegan version of the mayonnaise sauce so we just left that off. Still delicious. Maybe I should use some of my time off next week to make some at home.